Today's Teamster News 01.18.14

Teamsters Announce Tentative Agreement With YRCW  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union announced today that it reached a tentative agreement with YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) that, if ratified by the membership, will provide a pathway for substantial debt reduction and refinancing initiatives that will permit the company to protect and preserve more than 30,000 good American jobs...
Teamsters and YRC hammer out new offer  The Kansas City Star   ...The new proposal will be presented Tuesday to leaders of the many Teamsters locals that represent YRC’s 26,000 union employees throughout the country...
YRC Agrees to Revised Labor Accord With Teamsters Leaders  Bloomberg News   ...YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW:US) and Teamsters union leaders reached a revised labor accord that would pave the way for refinancing the trucking company’s $1.4 billion debt and staving off default. The shares surged...
Teamsters Celebrate King’s Legacy  teamster.org   ...Teamsters across the country will honor the legacy of civil rights and labor leader Martin Luther King Jr. on January 20th...
How Walmart Organizers Turned the Internet Into a Shop Floor  In These Times   ...Walmart workers and organizers prove ‘clicktivism’ can evolve into offline activism...
Leaked Walmart Documents Reveal Propaganda Campaign to Fight Workers Attempting to Organize AlterNet   ...The mega-retailer misinforms and tells managers to tattle on employees who discuss organizing...
Missouri ALEC Co-Chair on Wages in RTW States: “Sure They Go Down” (VIDEO) We Party Patriots   ...In a video unveiled by Progress Missouri, State Senator/ALEC Co-chair Ed Emery admits that “Right-to-Work” laws would mean lower wages for Missourians. But don’t get your hopes up: this is a gotcha moment, not a rejection of anti-worker policy...
AB InBev, KKR in talks on $4.5 billion Oriental Brewery deal  Reuters   ...Anheuser-Busch InBev SA is in advanced discussions to buy South Korea's Oriental Brewery from private equity owners KKR & Co LP and Affinity Equity Partners for more than $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter...
U.S. Steps Up Scrutiny of Freight Train Safety  New York Times   ...After meeting with federal regulators on Thursday, officials from the rail and petroleum industries agreed to examine quick ways to improve the safety of freight trains carrying crude oil following a spate of fiery accidents in recent months...
Safety violations found at another Freedom chemical facility  Salon   ...The company responsible for contaminating West Virginia’s tap water had been improperly storing chemicals at more than one location...
Freedom Industries files for bankruptcy  The Charlestown Gazette   ...Freedom owes $3.6 million to its top 20 unsecured creditors, according to bankruptcy documents. The company also owes more than $2.4 million in unpaid taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, and the IRS has placed at least three liens on Freedom's property, demanding payment...
Fear Is Why Workers in Red States Vote Against Their Economic Self-Interest  Truthdig   ...Last week’s massive spill of the toxic chemical MCHM into West Virginia’s Elk River illustrates another benefit to the business class of high unemployment, economic insecurity, and a safety-net shot through with holes...
Millionaire Ga. GOPer Backs Wall Street Bailout -- Not Detroit's   Talking Points Memo   ...A multi-millionaire Georgia Republican Senate candidate wanted to be clear at a recent campaign event: He's against the autoworker bailout but is for the Wall Street bailout...
How Screwing Your Workers Gets You Rated as Top 100 Places to Work  AlterNet   ...Darden Restaurants, which owns chains like Red Lobster, bought its way into a sleazy rankings list...
Amazon hosting most of the net's malware, says security firm  The Guardian   ...Report says net's large cloud providers, including Google and GoDaddy, are unknowingly harbouring ‘on-demand’ malware...
A Sneaky Path Into Target Customers’ Wallets  New York Times   ...Entering through a digital gateway, the criminals discovered that Target’s systems were astonishingly open — lacking the virtual walls and motion detectors found in secure networks like many banks’...
America's Real Welfare Queens  Truthout   ...In 2012, the average American taxpayer making $50,000 per year paid just $36 towards the food stamps program, while an average American family making $50,000 a year pays a whopping $6,000 a year in subsidies to Republican-friendly corporations...
Restricting bankers’ pay has only made them richer  Quarz   ...thanks to Goldman Sachs’s soaring stock price, its employees are sitting on $600 million … in compensation…
Patrick Replaces Secretary of Labor after Problems Surface  Boston Globe   ...Governor Deval Patrick today announced that he is replacing his state secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, Joanne F. Goldstein, who had been facing questions about the troubled launch of the state’s new online jobless benefits system...
Florida blames its troubled unemployment website entirely on vendor; feds heading here to help  Miami Herald   ...Months after its debut, Florida’s $63 million unemployment benefits website is showing signs of improvement but falls far short of adequately serving claimants who depend on it...
Pennsylvania Judge Strikes Down New Voter ID Law  ThinkProgress   ...In a major victory for proponents of voting rights, a Pennsylvania judge overturned the state’s new voter identification law on Friday...
Plain Talk: Sorry, compared to Minnesotans, we made the wrong choice  The Cap Times   ...While Minnesota's economy has seen robust growth, Wisconsin's has — generously — been called sluggish. Because of differences in how health care is viewed, Minnesotans pay far less in premiums than do Badgers. There are those who contend that the Gopher State is leaving Wisconsin in its dust...
Chicago Alderwoman Proposes City Stop Doing Business With JPMorgan Chase After It Admits to Illegal Actions  Truthout   ...“The bank has violated the city code by making admissions of dishonesty and deceit in the way they dealt with their investors in the mortgage securities and Bernie Madoff Ponzi scandals,” Hairston [said]. “We use this code against city contractors and all the small companies, why wouldn’t we use this against one of the largest banks in the world,” she said...

Today's Teamster News 05.03.11

Return of Union-Busting: Wisconsin Republicans May Vote Again  firedoglake   ...Scott Walker’s team must be getting worried about their legal strategy in the case of the anti-union bill. Because now, there’s open talk about going back to the drawing board...
Budget changes add new union language  Associated Press   ...House Republican lawmakers in Ohio have inserted changes to their state budget proposal that nearly match provisions affecting teachers' pay already a part of a contentious new collective bargaining law...
Budget negotiators tuck union dues issue into budget deal   St. Petersburg Times   ...budget negotiators tonight have agreed to include a provision in the budget that paves the way for a ban on union dues for several state worker unions...
Scott's unpopularity worries some in GOP, but not him  Tampabay Online   ...A March 29 Public Policy Polling survey showed a 55 percent majority disapproval, and Scott was booed when he threw first pitches at ball games in Tampa and St. Petersburg...
Divided panel advances amended DeCoster bill eliminating workers' right to unionize  Sun Journal   ...the Legislature's Labor Committee backed an amended bill Friday that would eliminate workers' right to unionize at the DeCoster-owned Quality Egg farm in Turner...
Rock star joins labor movement  Politico   ...What we saw in Madison, what we’re seeing across the Midwest, I hope is a resurgence of a vital and vibrant working class movement that is not going to be beholden to either corporate or governmental interests...
Patrick pledges Massachusetts will not follow Wisconsin's lead on collective bargaining  WisPolitics.com   ...“It’s not happening on my watch,”...